Q: Our realtor tells us that we should spend $4,000 to $5,000 dollars to stage our home. She feels that we would get it back tenfold. Is it really necessary to take out all our furniture, rent new replacements, rent paintings, repaint, get laminate flooring etc.?
A: Well, developers have a show suite for a reason. They are beautiful and are designed to take advantage of every room, matching furnishings and artwork.
People find it hard to imagine what (some) homes look like with their own furnishings in it. That is why home staging may be needed. How much? That you have to decide for yourself.
The $4,000 to $5,000 seems very high. How much you spend will depend on your type of home, the general neighbourhood, your competition and, of course, the price. At a minimum however, do get rid of all the "clutter".
Take all your personal photos off the walls (yes, the fridge stickers, too). Then to move some furniture into a storage facility at say $300 a month -it may be money well spent. This is particularly true if your furniture is tired, of the wrong size (too big for rooms), etc. Think about doing inexpensive things first. Change the hardware on all cupboards, paint (modern colours -not white) and hire an expert stager to advise.
Q: Where to I get the best statistics to see what the real estate market has been doing?
A: Depends on what you are looking for. For current and past listing and sales performance, your local real estate boards (listed for all of Canada at www.crea.ca) are the very best.
For vacancy rates go to the CMHC website. For property assessments go to assessment sites in each province. Best of all the 'apps' from www. realtor.ca let you connect to the boards and other sites right onto your iPhone and as of May 8 the Blackberry, too.
: We have had our house listed in Chilliwack for five months and had very little action. We keep hearing about the hot real estate market, but it hasn't come our way yet. Will it?
A: You are not alone. There are a number of market areas that have not participated in Vancouver's boom.
It is almost as if there was a big bowl over Vancouver -inside it is hot -outside, well, it is not.
Go back to the basics. Make sure you have a professional realtor, make sure your home is priced right (for the Chilliwack market). Check that it is advertised in all local real estate papers. Does your realtor place your property on craigslist.com, kijiji. ca? You may also read up on "21 ways to make your home sell faster" at www. jurock.com
Ozzie Jurock is a senior real estate adviser at www.jurock.com. He can be reached at oz@jurock.com
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